Irish brogue needs some translation

Spotted at this week’s Parliamentary hearing for the Slovakian commissioner, Ján Figel, was one Pat Cox, former president of the assembly.

The man from Munster, who did not seek re-election in June, sat through Figel’s three-hour session listening intently. He seemed particularly interested to hear about his plans to promote linguistic diversity in the EU.

Figel has been given the task of promoting multilingualism by José Manuel Barroso’s executive. During the hearing Figel more often answered in English than in Slovak. He also used Italian, Czech, Hungarian and a bit of Greek – but he could still have used some help from Cox.

When Brian Crowley, the Irish MEP, addressed him, Figel was seen pressing his headphones to his ear to avail himself of the interpreters. Although his country’s government has decided to seek recognition of Irish as an official EU language, Crowley was not actually speaking the ancient Celtic tongue.

Instead, speaking also in English, he sought to regale Figel with the musical cadences of his southern Irish brogue.

As visitors to Cork will attest, locals tend to ‘sing’ rather than speak.

Listening to their elongated vowels can be an enchanting experience but, as they say on the banks of the River Lee, understanding their accent can be sooooooooo difficult.

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